jurong bird park

be forewarned. the pamphlet says you may take bus 251 or bus 194 from the boon lay mrt station to get to the jurong bird park. do not. i repeat. do not take bus 251 unless you want a tour of the factories of singapore! though i did get to see the khong guan biscuit factory. but it ain't worth the extra 30-minute tour. so just take bus 194 if you are truly excited to see the birds.

here are some of our pictures. there are 158 of them. but the raw photos... around 800. bwahaha! the trouble three people with a digital camera each. hehe!

singapura

honestly, singapore was not what i had in my mind for my first out of the country trip. i've always thought it to be too metropolitan for my countryside taste. bangkok or cambodia or vietnam would have been where i would start off.

however, since i promised a jvp batchmate that i will try and visit him this year, i had to keep that promise. and besides, i figured it would be best to have someone you know in a foreign country. so singapore it was.

and it was a wonderful, pleasant surprise! while it is indeed metropolitan, it was also able to satisfy my taste for adventure and culture. i actually loved the metro-ness of it! its wonderful transportation system, the walking from one point to the other, the discipline of the people on the streets. it was a welcome breather from the congested cities of the philippines.

and there were simply so many places to go to! with five days there... we were still unable to do everything that we wanted. we were able to do the singapore zoo, the night safari, the jurong bird park, sentosa, the clark quay in g-max and ikea (tourist attraction na pala to ngayon!). the last day we had to split up to do our own desires - eiza and kris for shopping , while i went around the landmarks for picture-taking. and still it was not enough time!

plus there were free maps all over the place. maps to certain locations, maps to the entire singapore, the train line, the bus line... it was both easy and hard to get lost there. and the people were just so nice and accommodating (numero uno si dondi! love you batchmate!). our questions were answered politely and properly, and with a smile too.

and i love it when we go to restaurants and they'd go, "philippines?" and we'd say,"yes!" and they'd go, "mabuhay! try this..." and when we pay, they'd go, "salamat." aliw!

i also loved loved loved the diversity of the people there. when we got off the airport, we were first greeted with a magandang hapon by a fellow pinoy which made me think twice if we went to singapore or another philippine city. doubts where gone when i saw indians, chinese, whites, malays all over the airport. i love it! i think diversity helps people to be more tolerant and consequently more understanding of others. the philippines is too homogenous compared to singapore.

i love love love it there. while i usually have a been there, done that policy for my travels... it is not so with singapore. i don't mind going back. in fact, i want to go back. see more of the place, and even do the same things we did when we were there. i enjoyed it that much!

traveling abroad is addicting, mehn. i need to save up for another trip! hehe.

my newest favorite jumping picture

taken in pulo diyot snorkeling area. after getting tired from snorkeling, we decided to jump off the boat for fun and photos (of course!).

pulo diyot is the name on the map, but the locals call it virgin island. we weren't able to dock the beach because the owner of the island was coming and tourists were not allowed to enter. too bad. the beach looked very promising.

discoveries in cebu

malapascua means"bad christmas." according to the locals, there was a strong storm that sent magellan's galleons to the island on christmas day. thus he called the island malas pascua. cool, huh? the name stuck around for almost 500 hundred years!

bantayan island has been given papal permission to eat meat on good friday. we finally discovered the truth. good friday is their fiesta. i didn't know that good friday could be a fiesta. but there you go... bantayan is evidence. how considerate of whoever that pope was. how strange too. tee-hee!

and now for the true discovery: we have truly become adults on a trip. what does this mean?

1. we'd rather pay extra fifty to a hundred bucks than suffer through hordes of masses rushing to a single bus. a long time ago, we'd have stuck it out to save on cash. but what else is disposable income for?

2. junk food is not a meal anymore. there was a time i could survive on merely eating chips and biscuit or maybe a luxurious tub of instant noodles. during this trip, we had to have a decent meal. anyone who got hungry, got grumpy. and boy did we feed ourselves! and boy, did tita susan and tito peter feed us too.

3. extra bed please! and extra towels. and could you please clean the bathroom while we snorkel? thank you. gone were the days when we would plead to resort owners to allow 7-14 people fit a room for four. "overnight lang naman e." just to save money. this time, each one had to have his/her own bed and sleep comfortably. why? this leads to discovery number 4.

4. sleep is part of the vacation. there was a time in our lives when "morning the night" was part of the fun. who cares if one only had an hour sleep? we had a wonderful conversation! not anymore! the day is for adventure and after twelve is for sleep. earlier sleeping time would also be good too. i mean... we will see each other again tomorrow, and probably after this vacation. so yeah... we could use the night for sleep. and damn, we paid for the beds and the room so might as well use it.

di ba? like i said, what is disposable income for? and we have been ready for this trip since march. so.

bantayan and malapascua

it was quite unexpected fun really. i flew to cebu not expecting much, but with the kindness and generosity of the people it was very enjoyable and blessed. lots of laughter and lots of pictures. our snorkeling gears were utilized to the full as we checked out the coral reefs of the two islands. silly, harebrained ideas with jan as willing victim. tee-hee!

thank you, ray for arranging most of the trip.
thank you, jerry for being our kaban ng yaman, official haggler and PR person.
thank you, andy for the cheap rates and the great service.
thank you, tito peter for being jan's boyfriend and teaching us about bombs.
thank you, tita susan for the free dinners and the big discount on the lodging and showing us around ogtong cave resort. it is truly a wonderful place.
thank you, ray, jerry, mia, miah, ninin and jan for sharing the trip with me. i had such a great time and so did dixie. i haven't waken up that early for three consecutive days in quite a while. just to see the sunrise spectacle that decided to be quiet the days we were there. still lack of sleep but abundance of food and friends... always something worth having.

like what dixie said... let the pictures do the talking. soon. ;p

DDE #3

i'm a month old today!

i spent the last few days with m.angie and her friends at malapascua and bantayan island. most of the time i was just inside my bag because i might get wet. but it was fun riding the boat, though a little scary. i might need to go back to the shop if i got wet. so i'd rather be not wet.

i've discovered two new ways to make use of my abilities. i've always known about my continuous shots feature but this was the trip where i had the most fun with it. my models did a lot of funny poses so i took one pixie after another. it's funny when you see the results. like a cartoon missing a few frames... well that was it actually. hehe! t.jan was the funniest person during the trip which was quite new. must be the fresh bantayan air. hehe!

we also played with my shutter speed. since it was already dark, m.angie and ther friends tried to write their name with light. and it was so spectacular! except m.angie took a long time to learn it. t.ninin did it quickly and so did t.ray. t.mia and t.miah had a hard time as well... but they seemed to enjoy a lot.

there is so much to tell about the trip but i think my pixies will do a better job at it. i'm just glad to have spent my first month being fully utilized. there is so much to learn about me! and i'd like to know that about myself too.

i wonder how the next few months would go with me? i hope it's as exciting and adventurous. :)

mon's wedding

una: aba e... napa-gown niya ako ng pink! bakit? kasi gusto niya mang long gown ako. at dahil wala akong gown, si inay ang nag-rescue sa akin. naghanap sa mga kaibigan... at ang nahagilap... tatlo! pero dahil nagtanong ako sa ikakasal kung ano gusto ipinasuot sa akin... yung old rose na long gown daw kesa yung burgundy (motif) na knee length. sya, sya... kasal niya ito... sige na... pagbigyan.

pangalawa: sinuot ko ang gown. aba e... pixie cut, asymetric, one side lang ang may strap. naloloka ang lola niyong ito. feeling ko magkakaroon ako ng wardrobe malfunction within the day. mahirap ang walang hinaharap. or praning lang talaga ako. pero in fairness... maganda ang dating. kaso lang pink... pero di obvious na di akin ang damit. mwehehe!

pangatlo: aba e... in-love na in-love tong si mon salas sa misis. di pa nakakarating ng altar e sinundo na sa magulang. pero siyempre part ng wedding march nila. pero aba e... nagkiligan ang mga kautawan sa kanyang pagsundo at paglakad nila ng sabay papuntang dambana. ako din. i can'tbelieve pinakikilig ako ni mon salas. mwehehe! at nung picture taking na e... kung makahawak si mon... parang di na pakakawalan si dinah. aba e. kakatuwa.

pang-apat: alanghiyang mokong... set-up. wala nang toss the boquet at toss the garter. diniretso na pasa sa amin ni jan (na may birthday nga pala nung araw na iyon). akala ko nagbibiro lang nung nakita kami habang papasok sa reception... "tatawagin na lang namin kayo mamaya." ako naman... "hehehe!" di sineryoso. sinadya ko pang mag-cr nung bouquet toss. nung bumalik ako... papunta na si dinah sa akin at pinapasa na ang flowers. nge! so ang lola niyo? tawa lang ng tawa. dahil hiyang hiya. siyempre kilala na kami ng mga bisita ni mon! at aba e... madaya si jan dahil maling apelyido ang nasabi "camiño" hmph!

first time mangyari na mapunta ako sa harapan para magsuot ng garter dahil ni minsan di ako nag-attempt na magsalo ng bouquet. hay naku. pero nakakatawa. at natuwa na rin ako sa pagkapursigido ni mon.

pero masaya, in fairness. madami pang kuwento! including ang paglilibot namin nina sherwin ng buong surigao city para hanapin ang mt. baragabon resort only to end up in the first hotel we saw. hay buhay. pero saka na yun. at saka na rin ang pictures.

butuan-surigao

Beautiful.

To spend an afternoon in front of Lake Mainit in a place called Jabonga. And silly as it was, I dipped my finger into the ocean to check if it was indeed hot, or at least warm, as the name infers. My guess was correct. It wasn’t. So why is it called Lake Mainit? Allegedly, its source IS hot. That is something I’d have to figure out, huh?

To be comfortably chauffered by the priest’s chauffer throughout most of the day. Driven around anytime, anywhere is always good.

To witness a FULL-ARC RAINBOW in complete and vivid ROYGBIV glory! And God sure knows how to surpass Himself by actually placing a less vibrant but still magnificent twin rainbow. I would have loved to hunt down the pots of gold on both ends… or four! And I prayed that it was a promise of something good for those who took time to admire its beauty.

To ride at the back of a pick-up late at night while going home from the barrio, the wind whipping my hair and caressing my face and seeing the dark dome of sky freckled with stars the size of a powdered sugar grain and the Milky Way disguised as a wayward cloud. Spectacular.

To finally have my curiosity sated and see Surigao City once and for all. It’s still not Siargao but I am already impressed by its mesmerizing beauty. A quick trip to the Pebble beach got me falling-in-love with Surigao right then and there. A rocky beach, crystal clear water, a scenic view of Southern Leyte… Without actually seeing the area we were supposed to be helping soon, I was actually shouting, “approved! Approved!” Beautiful. Simply magnificent.

And oh… not to mention the surfers dining at Jollibee (I am assuming they are… no boards or anything… but they look like they hang ten). With eye-candy like that… how can I not want to go to the surfing cup (but I can’t go. Dang!)?

To view Lake Mainit and the mountain range that surrounds it at dusk time, with the houselights from the other side signaling signs of life by the mountainside… only God can imagine and create purple in various hues in one moving picture… hu-waaaaaw. Simply breathtaking…

Those are the times I’m glad for my work.:)

kadayawan 2007: photo documentation

it is that time of the year again when the city of davao comes alive with people and activities. streets are colored with fruits selling cheap and tasting sweet. i've probably devoured 10 kilos worth of mangosteen in five days!

this year was complete attendance and more, as friends from manila flew over to enjoy our yearly tradition of a crazy August weekend. it may be quite a while since another gathering of this number may happen. if that be the case, it was a fitting swan song for a tradition that brings the barkadayawan/fuhkers (fun house kids) together.

friday at pawikan sanctuary in punta dumalag, matina.
thanks to sherwin for allowing us to tag along. :)

lesbian lovers in their bikinis sitting on the painful dead corals
just to have a nice photo shoot.
nice backs, girls!

welcome to davao, tubero!
fuhktastic four with shiva and dave at the imago concert.
huwag niyo na hanapin yung imago, noh! kami ang bida.

yummy slipper lobster in garlic sauce at pards ilustre.
chris and edward, our waiters, must have enjoyed serving us
as we threw hirits back and forth at each other. tatit has video of crazy lunch. abangan!

huli kami! because we were so noisy we were caught in the net with the squid and lobster.

aldevinco is for photo shoots. the wares for sale are our props.

it would have tatit's first street dancing. unfortunately, it ended early this year. darn. we were able to get pictures of the dancers commissioned by marco polo though. pretty little lass, ain't she?

surprise despedida for tatit who is going to netherlands.
the whole barkadayawan/fuhkers friends were present. and guests, too!
thanks to kitoy, morten harket and mon salas for the belly-aching laughter ;p.
neuken in the keuken. badankt!

punta ng inamong falls! look at that beauty.
arakan valley, entering through marahan in davao city.

trekkers in the midst of cogon!
seedlings donated for the rehabilitation of the place.

sugarfree to cap a tiring day.

cool!

igougo.com is a website where any individual can write travel reviews about any place in the world. my good friend, rowie, recommended it to me since she knows i love traveling. i registered 2005, but it was only this year that i actually started logging in entries.

they rate entries from one star (which is not a star but a pencil) to five stars, with five being the highest. my average is three stars, which is when they start handing out points. i've had four stars before, but i don't think i bothered reading about it on my e-mail until today.

i never realized how cool it was to get such an affirmation for doing something i enjoy! traveling and writing about it. see here!

Hi manlalakbay,

Journal Name: Davao: Touring the Home Front
Journal Entry: Kadayawan Festival

We just wanted to take a minute to send you a special "thanks" for contributing to IgoUgo. We're happy to award you one of our top ratings—and valuable GO Points^SM—for this phenomenal review. As a top contributor, you won't want to miss:

• The variety of great rewards you'll earn by writing more reviews like this one
• A chance to make your reviews shine even more (and rack up more GO Points^SM) by uploading your vacation photos
• The IgoUgo Hall of Fame, where our all-time top contributors are recognized for their travel expertise and superlative journals

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please don't hesitate to contact us directly. Thanks again—we look forward to reading about many more of your travels in the future!

Sincerely,

Your IgoUgo Editors

How great is that! Getting a four-star is really tough already, but I hope I can get a five-star soon. :)

Holy Week photos

chema's by the sea resort, samal island

canibad, samal island

lanuza, surigao del sur(f)

(click the photo to see the album)

surf's up!

Black Saturday.

It has been two days since we left Davao in search of a great Holy Week vacation, the beaches of Cantilan and Cagwait in Surigao del Sur did not meet the high expectations most of the gang had. They were beautiful, sure. But they could not compare to the Wednesday trip to Canibad. The bars has been set too high. Tsk. Tsk.

Until we finally decided to just go back to Lanuza and give surfing a try. Or at least look like I tried it, as evidence of the photo on the right. ;p But I did try it! It was fun. But...



I looked like this after.

A cut and a bruise on the chin. Caused by the sudden wave that had the board hit me on the chin and made me dizzy for a few seconds.

Bruises on the inside of the arm. From the board being swiped by the waves.

Bruises on the knees. From jumping onto the board from the water.

There are many other aches and bruises I can give you. But this photo is enough to tell you that it's not a pretty sport.

But it's heckuva fun one!

Read the rest of the surfing story.

shameless plug

once i was biyaheng mindanao. that blog tried to chronicle my experiences of the sights and sounds and feelings of going around mindanao for work. then things changed. i had to morph into the cross-eyed bear.

but there is no denying the mole on my foot. it itches to travel. to see places. to feel the grains of sand on the beach. the road less traveled. to discover every possible nook and cranny of this country. anywhere place i can drag myself to.

at the same time, i desire to be a virtual tour guide. to guide people to places i have been. to take them on a trip and explore with me the wide wide world.

so i started a travel blog. drop by BIYAHENG PINAS.

note: non-multiply users may go to this BIYAHENG PINAS.

baguio: a visual display (part 1)

there weren't much photos for the friday that i spent with jan. we had lunch at sizzling plate, which is always a baguio classic. and it would be wrong not to order their famous sans rival. oooozing with buttery goodness! i couldn't get enough of it. the rest of the afternoon was spent at burnham park people watching while eating fishballs and japanese sweet corn. i was wondering if any disc devil would turn up, but there were only college boys playing soccer. skins and shirts. oooh.

mike and rowie finally arrived and were famished as they had not had any lunch. so we went over to o mai khan, which a resto owned by a english classmate in college. and by golly... ang sarap ng pagkain!

we went in search for dessert as jan and i owed mike big time for the free lodging at their clan's transient house. after looking over at several places, we ended up at the manor. the poshest hotel in baguio land. surprisingly, they had quite affordable cakes! not your typical hotel prices. bizu was even more expensive! we ordered a rum ball, a blueberry cheesecake, a belgian chocolate cake and strawberries by the yard. the last two are a definite must have.


the only thing on our itenerary for the trip was a trip to tam-awan village. there were a lot of installation arts and several types of indigenous huts. it was less impressive as i imagined it to be, but we had a good time nonetheless. i would have wanted a portrait taken, but i didn't want to spend money on a sketch of me when i have an artist around. will just wait for jan to draw inspiration from my ethereal beauty (asa pa). hehe!

right across tam-awan village was arko ni apo where artist ben-hur villanueva lives. he also happened to be jan and mike's teacher in grade 6. his family was very accomodating. i was awestruck with him, and his works were really beautiful. i fell in love with a wall clock and his sculpture of abraham sacrificing isaac.

he gave us a tour of his home, introduced us to his two sons, bumbo and jikko. they, too, were artists (good-looking ones at that). his grandchildren laikha and nico (4 y.o, and 7 y.o) inherited the artist genome and were already selling their own sculptures for $20.

it was an honor to have shaken his hand. aaah! and when he becomes a national artist, i can say, i shook that man's hand! he was my bf's teacher. ben-hur, i heart you!
in his home, they have a restaurant called kape diperensya. while we were conversing with him, he offered us free soya coffee. (talk about nice!) since there were other tourists around, he brought over bumbo to entertain us. bumbo explained kape diperensya is a place, "kung saan lahat may diperensya, pwera ang kape." so they would serve it in cups without ears, or chipped saucers. or waites would be cross-eyed. what a concept. haha!



it was difficult leaving the place. but of course we had to hunt for our lunch. when we asked directions from a guy he told us that left would take us back to the city and right would take us to la trinidad.

guess which direction we took? (see prev post)

baguio: a visual display (part 2)

after spending time with (oh my god, it's) ben-hur villanueva and his family, the gang decided to take a left turn wherever that was to go to la trinidad to find the vegetable bagsakan. BUT. we ended with something better. the strawberry farm!!! yahoooo. and there were flowers around too. (but not on this photo). thus saturday was our serendipity drive day. :) and oooh! look at what i am holding. strawberry taho (yum!) and dirty strawberry ice cream (double yum!). strawberry picking was P150/kilo. so we just walked around the fields and bought our stash for P70/kilo. at least i got to pick strawberries is miarayon already. hehe!

on the way back to baguio, mike had this brilliant idea of eating in a korean restaurant since we are in baguio, which has lots of vegetables, and korean food uses up lots of veggies. so that would be great. after bingeing on chicken, we made our way to the batirol cafe.

batirol is actually the ewer where one cooks the chocolate drink. and yummm... wondefully evil hot choco. mmmmm....

since we ate so much, we decided to hike from the batirol place to mile hi shopping center through the camp john hay path. what would a trip to baguio be without the classic-behind-the-pine-tree-photo!

after a long unplanned but wonderful day, we went home to stuff ourselves with our strawberry loot. there was condensed milk, nestle cream with sugar and melted dark chocolate for dipping.

it's absolutely no wonder if i have gained like 3-5 pounds in that week at baguio. because i was eating like every two hours. mehn! but it was a great, great vacation. much much thanks to rowie, mike and jan for making it so relaxing and enjoyable. :)

romancing baguio deux: random thoughts

at five o clock, baguio is full of energy. students spill out from the schools and universities. session road is awash with people. the vivaciousness of young people warms the chilly air of baguio. young couples holding hands while strolling to SM (couples never walk, they stroll). girl friends, in a faster pace, chat about terror teachers and cute classmates. a young artist capped with his tam in jamaican colors hums bob marley under his breath. i, in my brown suede jacket and laptop bag slung over my shoulder watch them all.

after my movie, i set out for the supermarket to buy water. it's been days since i've had water outside meals due to the distance of convenience stores from teacher's camp. while i was walking the aisles, "junk food!" zipped past my mind. but i push the thought away. this is baguio! buy fruits. buy strawberries. and now that i write this, i should have gotten myself condensed milk to dip into. mmmmm....

session road seemed to have been invaded by things you'd find anywhere. kfc, mcdo, greenwich, jollibee. and yet... baguio stores refuse to be beaten. i take more notice of pizza volante, zola cafe, swiss baker, gobi mongolian. baguio will always insist upon itself. it knows its special.

even at eleven, i have been adamant with the presence of the american bases, especially since i used to live near one in angeles city. but one thing that i give these joes credit for, they do great city planning. while our taxi ferried through the road to camp john hay, i was suddenly thankful that they stayed in baguio. if not for the americans, baguio would just look like bukidnon. don't take it wrongly. i looooove bukidnon. but part of baguio's charm is that it makes you feel like somewhere not in the philippines.

(date is here. bye!)

romancing baguio

my heart is palpitating, probably from the caffeine and sugar rush from the cafe mocha and tiramisu i am eating slowly. am hoping to stretch it to two hours. the approximate time it will take jan to get here from pangasinan. mike and rowie shall be coming up tomorrow.

here is zola cafe and restaurant here in... BAGUIO!

the alternative learning system national summit is finally done and over with, thank goodness. my companions have already left this afternoon. and so i have the entire baguio to myself. after i have settled myself in my lodging for the night, i set off for session road. busy but romantic session road.

the smile on my lips refuses to leave. there is something about walking in a town you love but have not seen for a long time. especially when you are alone. i felt a certain freedom. as if i conquered baguio, as if i conquered my soul. it's been a while since i've been here last. and so it was a re-acquaintance with old friends kinda thing. a lot of things that have changed... and yet it's still that same old pal with the same old kinks. that kind of friend that makes you feel comfortable and accepted even after years of parting.

i decided to take my first dose of freedom in days to... SM. heheh! i took a quick look from the terrace, and there lay before me burnham park, a school oval, a soccer field (i was eyeing for discs flying in the air, just in case there were ultimate peeps there. hehe!) and the rest of baguio... the sun was almost ready to set.

after the movie was done, i set off for zola. because i saw the wi-fi sign the other day i was walking around. the moment i stepped out of the mall, the crisp cold air nipped playfully at my nose. again, that sense of freedom. of independence. of oneness.

i realized i wasn't this in love with baguio ever. maybe because those times were spent with my friends, touring the place, wanting to see as much of it, do as much with it. but the past few days, i just needed to be here.

this is the first time that i can take pleasure in walking in the cold, with no clear destination. this is the first time that i am on my own. even if it is just a few hours. i think of no one, of nothing, but baguio. i am in love. in love with this old friend who welcomes me once more in its arms.

kung hei fat choi

the wonderful thing about chinese new year for me is... wonderfully yummy sticky TIKOY! yum yum yum! and thanks to maean, i was able to partake a piece last sunday.

anyway... late as it may be, let me share with you neil gaiman's greeting on his blog.

Happy Year of the Pig, to all of us.

Pigs, I learned as a boy, reading books, especially young pigs, are loveable, brave, noble and intelligent animals who have adventures.

I hope this year you get to be brave and noble and intelligent. But mostly I hope you get to have adventures.

(As G. K. Chesterton once said, An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered. An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered... )

Yes, let's all have adventures! May you be a Wilbur (Charlotte's Web), a Babe (Babe, the Gallant Pig), a Napoleon (Animal Farm), Miss Piggy (The Muffets) or Porky (Looney Tunes).

PAL Flight PR 8137

My original flight at 4PM was PR 813. But PAL living up to its name of Plane Always Late, it was changed to PR 8137. The seven must have been gotten from the number of hours our flight was late. Nakamshet. I ended up leaving manila at 11PM! What could be worse than that? Oh, just waiting 12 hours to take your flight. Just like what happened to my boss.

What pisses me off was not the delay per se. Unforeseen circumstances are exactly that - unforeseen. Nobody wants to be delayed. Not the passengers. Not the airport staff. Especially not PAL. As it is costly. My new friend and I (even anti-social people like me would end up with a kindred spirit when stuck seven hours in a closed space. our ties being... we were on the same flight. and uh, she went up to me first. i'd have finished the book i had with me. and would even read it twice over just to avoid approaching strangers.) even ended up stuffing ourselves with an arroz caldo snack (which is more lugaw as it doesn't contain anything but rice and no chicken. baka nga am pa!) and a pork barbecue meal from St. Cinammon (sagot ng PAL syempre), plus airport snack (the usual biscuit and Nutrilicious) and KFC two-piece meal (not bad!) provided by PAL.

What pisses me off is that deception was happening throughout the seven hours we were waiting. We were informed at 330 that the flight was going to be delayed and we were leaving 630. So, okay. Typical of PAL and not unexpected. And I can still catch the frisbee game in Agro. By the time it was 6PM, another announcement was made that we will be leaving at 845 instead. Whadapacksyetisdis? So I thought, okay so no more game for me. But I will still be able to catch the 1130 rerun of American Idol. By the time it was 730, Eli (the new friend) got news that the plane was leaving at 1045. This was before any announcement was made.

Apparently, by 6PM PAL already knew that the flight would be leaving at 1045, but were making announcement of increments of two hours for the delay, which we assume was probably to avoid any responsibility of housing the passengers. Pusanggala! Ano yan? That pissed me off sooooo much. I wanted to go to the management and pick a fight. But Eli was stopping me.

I, for one, just really needed to vent my irritation at the situation. My trip last December with Cebu Pacific was also four hours delayed. And after all those wasted time, all they give you is an apology and if you're lucky, a snack.

For this particular event, if PAL already knew we were leaving at 11PM by six o'clock, they should just have told us. They should have just given us the option of going out for a proper dinner or to go back home or to just get out of the airport to take a breath. I could have spent some more quality and quantity time with Jan! Or watched Rome and Juliet (mehn, two of the hottest actresses i'm kinda lusting after playing lesbian lovers. hot pare!). Or Music and Lyrics. Or something other then sitting on the cold steel seats of the airport, hiding along with new found friend (long story, bloggable but I won't bother. best told live.), wasting hard earned pesoses informing people about the delay. Agh. I mean, it could be that they are obliged to house us which would entail a very large expense. But heck, how many people riding the plane would know that? I'd think it, but I wouldn't know for sure. Unless by some serendipity convenient for the passengers there's a consumer lawyer present (mon salas, reason to ponder some more on that consumer watch NGO. hehe!) for that flight.

And here's what really, really, really gets my goat. Why is it that when a passenger does not make it on time for the check-in, we are forced to pay a no-show fee plus an additional amount when we change flights when these effin' airlines can delay the passengers for hours and hours and hours on end and just give an apology and some food? Where's the justice in that? Nakakainis lang talaga!

I understand that inconveniences other passengers should one come late. But still, they are taking advantage of the people!!! Dapat, dapat, dapat... if their flights are late for an hour, or even two, they should provide their passengers with a No-Show Fee Waiver Card for Your Next Flight much like a Get Out of Jail Card in Monopoly. Just to balance things out. Hello! Time is Gold kaya. The seven hours they delayed us is almost a full day of work, a sufficient amount of rest, quality time with friends and family... Time is too priceless to be wasted on an airport terminal! Unless you're Tom Hanks.

But typically Filipino, most of the people were still calmly waiting in their seats. Definitely a lot of complaints here and there, but I don't think there were any threats of a class suit or anything like that. People were adjusting their schedules according to the delay. New friends were made (like me). More people were smiling or just quiet rather then intensely angry. It's really such a Pinoy attitude - c'est la vie... that's life. No wonder GMA keeps pushing and pushing us, because we just complain in our seats but stop there and move on smiling to ourselves and think, "maybe this delay happened for a reason. If we left on time, our plane would have crashed." Soooooo Pinoy talaga.

And typically Filipino, it makes me glad I'm one.

That's another notch up for the Philippine happiness index. Sheesh.

about last night

the original plan of action was to have dinner with jan's high school barkada. but within the day, two called in sick already, which just leaves jan and andoy. so when jan asked andoy whether to resked, andoy affirmed. thus we ended up watching "the curse of the golden flower."

and typical of chinese emperor movies, you can either brand it as shakespearean or telenova with high budget. i prefer the latter. it an interesting watch, with beautiful costumes and production design. nothing different about the story, as there are the usual elements infidelity, power-grabbing and deception. but it is nicely told, and chow yun-fat did great acting as emperor because you see the character and not the actor. but throughout the latter part of the movie, only one thing keeps going on in my head... "madami talagang tao sa china!" there were thousands and thousands of people (who i assume are really computer-generated) and you just have got to be amazed with their organization skills especially in warfare. ;p

and so the movie was done. jan gets a text from mytch that he is going to andoy's anyway. a call here and there, and we were on our way to jan's house to get the car so we don't have to worry about how to get home. finally, we were at the host's house. and it was just so amusing seeing old high school pals remember their crazy reckless days. and the funniest thing was when they were discussing how our changed plans ended up going back to square one. and oh, somebody else has been relegated to the status of snuffulafugus girlfriend.

around 1pm, we were ready to go home. well, not really, but andoy had to get to work and had an infant to take care of so the three of us decided to ease his suffering for the night by leaving. on the way up to ateneo (we were at barangka), mytch was suggesting that we have a quick look at the UP fair as he was in a nostalgic mode. it was all fine by me since we were in the area anyway.

so we went to UP. MYMP was playing their last song, which was fine by me. i don't really care much for them. though i was singing along with them despite. wehehe!

our quick trip ended up to be a one and half hour stay because mytch was able to get us backstage passes through mojofly. i think he directed their newest video, thus the power to drag two over-aged teenagers to concert.

by two o'clock i was sleepy. the bwah music of the UP bands wasn't exactly helping to keep me awake (yes, i fall asleep listening to metal. sorry, drin). but i was too nahihiya to leave without listening to mojofly because they were the ones who got us in. and mytch was enjoying himself. so. we decided to wait for mojofly to perform. thankfully, they got upped two slots so we can go home earlier.

it was great seeing ali alejandro on the drums. poging talaga. not my type, but poging. i forgot the name of the vocalist, but mytch was saying, "lasing na to." which made it more fun, because nothing beats listening to a pumped-up drunk band singers. the whole time, the kala vocalist was on the stage dancing to the band's beat. they were to be next anyway. he was an adorable teddy bear that i wish i could squeeze but my hands weren't big enough and i wasn't bold enough to approach him. but i was behind him while they were waiting for mojofly to get on stage.

even with my eyes going on auto shut off, i asked that we stay for kala's gig. it's just two songs anyway. so it was fun listening to rock baby rock and jeepney. while this was going on, out came four guys in baston. orange and lemons. only one of them wore shades, and a ten gallon hat with that. so it was kinda funny when he was putting on his guitar because his hat got knocked out. since everything was a haze, i dont know which orange this was.

we left after kala. walking to the car, they were playing panalangin. i'd have stayed for the song just to find out what their second song would be. but it was just too darn late for an old fogey like me and poor jan still had to drive everybody home. so i never found out what they sang.

and it has to mentioned that several troops of taytay boys were there. punks not dead talaga! haha!

inside the car, while i was on my way to dreamland, i had a little smile on my face. it's messed-up plans on nights like this that make life a little more exciting. on valentine's eve too!